Judge upholds $112 million verdict against Suffolk County in jail detention case
Suffolk taxpayers remain exposed to a $112 million judgment after a federal judge upheld the award in the county’s ICE detainer case. The county has 30 days to appeal.
Suffolk County taxpayers remain exposed to a $112 million judgment after a federal judge upheld the damages award in a long-running case over immigrants held in county jails for federal immigration authorities. The county has 30 days to appeal.
The award covers 674 immigrants who were detained in Suffolk County custody from July 18, 2014, through Nov. 15, 2018, after their criminal cases had ended or their bail had been posted. Jurors found on Nov. 7, 2025, that Suffolk County and the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office were financially liable for violating constitutional rights in the case, Orellana Castañeda et al. v. County of Suffolk and Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office et al.
U.S. District Judge William F. Kuntz II had already ruled on Jan. 2, 2025, that Suffolk’s practice of holding people solely on the basis of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement civil detainers violated the Fourth Amendment and the New York State Constitution. The jury later found a separate procedural due-process violation under the 14th Amendment, concluding that detainees were not given notice or a chance to contest the extra detention.
County Executive Ed Romaine said in January 2025 that Suffolk faced as much as $60 million in liability and called the result “nothing short of ridiculous.” Suffolk County spokesperson Michael Martino said after the verdict that the county would appeal. Suffolk Sheriff Errol Toulon Jr. said the county stopped honoring ICE detainers after New York courts made clear the practice was no longer allowed.
A 2018 New York appellate decision said the Suffolk sheriff lacked authority to detain prisoners on ICE detainers and administrative warrants, and the county’s policy ended on Nov. 15, 2018.
New York City agreed to pay up to $92.5 million to settle claims that it unlawfully detained more than 20,000 immigrants for ICE between 1997 and 2012, and Massachusetts’ highest court ruled in Lunn v. Commonwealth in 2017 that holding someone solely on a civil ICE detainer amounted to an arrest under state law.
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